Redcar Racecourse has announced its determination to stay ahead of the field with the appointment of Neil Etherington as chief executive.

Mr Etherington, who has led inward investment activity in the Tees Valley area for the last decade, will take up his new position in June.

While he was chief executive of the Tees Valley Development Company, and more recently as strategic investment and marketing director with Tees Valley Regeneration, he has played a key role in bringing new jobs and investment into the area.

His team has helped to create 12,500 jobs across 115 different projects, with investment totalling almost £500m.

Mr Etherington, 47, is a native of Stockton and has spent much of his working life in the North-East. He originally worked for Dunlop in Wallsend, then with the CBI in Newcastle before returning to Tees Valley to become chief executive of Teesside Tomorrow, in 1992. In 1996, he became the first and only chief executive of Tees Valley Development Company.

"As an enthusiastic racegoer, I am delighted and excited by my new role which, for me, is a unique opportunity to combine my business experience with a sporting passion," he said. "Redcar Racecourse is already a great product and has enormous potential to play an increasingly important role in the ongoing regeneration of the Tees Valley.

Peter Hill-Walker, chairman of Redcar Racecourse Ltd, said: "The board has a very clear ambition to continue to develop its core business of racing, as well as the wider commercial aspects of our business.

"We have already made significant progress, and Neil's appointment represents a very clear statement about our intent. We are committed to broadening our links with both the community and local businesses and to further develop our position as a first class facility and to maximise the very real potential of our site."

Racing was entering a new era with greater competition, both within the racing industry itself and from the growing leisure market. "Neil has the ideal credentials to lead us into that new era," said Mr Hill-Walker.

Joe Docherty, Tees Valley Regeneration's chief executive, said: "Neil will be a very hard act to follow. He and his team have landed a number of deals that have had a real and lasting benefit to the whole economy of the Tees Valley. He combines a real passion for the area with a hard-headed approach to business, and it is difficult to overestimate the impact he has had.